whose service they will incur no greater risk than
in ours. The reasons that induce me to recommend the employment of Negro troops at all render the effect of the measures I have suggested
upon slavery immaterial and in my opinion the
best means of securing the efficiency and fidelity of
the auxiliary force would be to accompany the
measure with a well-digested plan of gradual and
general emancipation. As that will be the result
of the continuance of the war and will certainly
occur if the enemy succeed, it seems to me most
advisable to adopt it at once and thereby obtain
all the benefits that will accrue to our cause.
“The employment of Negro troops under regulations similar to those indicated would, in my opinion, greatly increase our military strength and enable us to relieve our white population to some extent. I think we could dispense with the reserve forces except in cases of emergency. It would disappoint the hopes which our enemies have upon our exhaustion, deprive them in a great measure of the aid they now derive from black troops and thus throw the burden of the war upon their own people. In addition to the great political advantages that would result to our cause from the adoption of a system of emancipation, it would exercise a salutary influence upon our Negro population by rendering more secure the fidelity
